My New Favorite Way to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's a cookie trough!

Today started with a forgotten backpack, literal spilled milk, and learning that a business project we’ve been working really hard on might fall through. It ended with a sheet pan of chocolate chip cookies.

In between all that there was space…like actual free time in my work day that was not accounted for. To be honest, I don’t do well with space. I fill my work days with non-stop to-do lists and my free time with activities I enjoy, but still, always, something—a book, a podcast, a TV show. I rarely (never?) sit alone with my thoughts. I mean, even saying “sit alone with my thoughts” made me make this face.

But for once, I forced myself to eat lunch without my computer or kindle or phone open nearby. I sat on my patio and listened to birds and soaked up the humidity and let the old noggin’ wander for a bit.

And dang if it didn’t help. I puzzled out some things that have felt off in my work lately. A couple little seedling ideas popped up, along with an irresistible urge to make a giant sheet pan of chocolate chip cookies. Because when a day starts with bad news, it should at least end with enough chocolate chip cookies to feed the whole neighborhood.

All it took was one distraction free lunch for my brain to cut out the middle man cookie scoop and deliver the fastest way to get from existential crisis to gooey chocolate chip cookies. If this is what daydreaming can produce, I should do it more often¹.

This recipe is based off of my absolute favorite Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies, but doubled and tweaked a bit to make it work for a half sheet pan. This sucker will easily feed 20 people. It probably should feed even more that, but I want to make sure everyone at the table can adequately eat their feelings with this one.

I asked Will if he could guess what I wanted to do with this sheet of cookies as soon as they came out of the oven, and he immediately grabbed an ice cream scoop. I think this means we’re meant to be together. Ever since we made the Blueberry Rhubarb Schlumpf, all I want to do is scoop ice cream directly onto warm pans of dessert and eat it communally, like a giant chocolate chip cookie trough.

If you’re throwing a party or just want chocolate chip cookies in a hurry, this is the absolute easiest way to do it. The dough doesn’t need any time to chill, and the cookies come out ooey gooey in the centers with crispy, chewy corners. Sprinkle on some flaky sea salt if you want to get fancy, or serve it up as is. This would be perfect to feed all the neighborhood kids on the last day of school or bring to a Memorial Day gathering or make you the MVP of girl’s night. In fact, I can’t think of a gathering that wouldn’t be improved with sheet pan cookies.